EU renewables targets and UK policy

GlobalData has said that as the UK strives to meet its EU target of 15% renewable energy consumption by 2020, the government has taken several steps to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 34% and 80% by 2020 and 2050 respectively, compared with 1990 levels. A new report from the company states that the UK government is now promoting renewable energy sources through a substantial amount of financial support by way of subsidies, active research and development, government sponsored loans, and tax allowances.

UK strategy

Prasad Tanikella, Global Data Senior Analyst, Alternative energy said, ‘in 2009, the UK Renewables Energy Strategy set a target of generating more than 30% of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020, with technologies such as wind, biomass, hydro, wave and tidal playing important roes. The other main aims were to generate at least 12% of heat from renewable energy sources, such as biomass, biogas, solar and heat pumps, and to derive at least 10% of transport energy from renewable sources.’

Under this strategy, an Office for Renewable Energy Deployment was created within the Department of Energy & Climate Chance (DECC) to take forward these commitments. The DECC developed a renewable energy roadmap in 2011to assess the status of renewables in the UK, which included up to £ 30 million of direct government support for offshore wind cost reductions over the subsequent four years.

GlobalData believes that the UK government’s dedication to wind power has been a vital catalyst in the effort towards meeting its EU targets.

Tanikella said, ‘wind power installed capacity accelerated from 534 Mw in 2002 to approximately 8.9 GW in 2012, and is expected to increase further, reaching almost 31.6 Gw by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 16.9%. The UK’s rapid expansion of wind power installations is largely thanks to favourable government policies and attractive concession programs, such as the Offshore Transmission Owner policy in 2009 and the Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Task Force in 2011.’